Intelligent Octopus Go

[tophamn]

@tophamn - thanks
My EVSE is the Porsche supplied mobile one, not compatible with OIG. I rely on the car’s compatibility with OIG.
In my case the car’s Profile % charge setting would act as a minimum rather than a maximum, executed when the car is plugged in, regardless of any Porsche/EVSE/OIG parameters.

OK, so the subtlety here is: if you have a single profile with optimised charging enabled and NO timer set the car will treat the % set in the profile as a MAXIMUM and not charge beyond it - essentially the car charges to the profile % as soon as it can and stops, but because there are no other instructions it doesn't charge further.

In my setup I rely on the Zappi wallbox, under the control of Octopus, to handle when the charging occurs. If you have a dumb wallbox with no control then your car would charge to the profile % as soon as you plugged it in.

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[D00notD00d]

OK, so the subtlety here is: if you have a single profile with optimised charging enabled and NO timer set the car will treat the % set in the profile as a MAXIMUM and not charge beyond it - essentially the car charges to the profile % as soon as it can and stops, but because there are no other instructions it doesn't charge further.

In my setup I rely on the Zappi wallbox, under the control of Octopus, to handle when the charging occurs. If you have a dumb wallbox with no control then your car would charge to the profile % as soon as you plugged it in.

This explains the Profile\Optimised Charging setting. It allows a ‘Home Energy Manager’ such as the one Porsche sells to influence charging periods. Compatibility with any other such device or EVSE is unclear. I have no such device so don’t enable this. Your EVSE/OIG may be acting as the ‘Home Energy Manager’.

 

[D00notD00d]

I'm on Intelligent Go but stopped using it because of reliability issues then I didn't renew Porsche Connect so afaik it won't work anymore. I got an email from Octopus saying I had to connect or they would switch me to Octopus Go. I have an Andersen A2. Is there a way to set it up without a Connect subscription?

The connect subscription allows you to see and update charging settings remotely via the PorsChe Connect app.
Above this all cars come with a 10 year Connect Subscription for OTA access. I don’t know if that’s sufficient for OIG purposes. Have you tried adding your car as a device in the OIG app to see if it can complete a test charge? It does that as part of the set up so you’ll get a near instant answer. If it works, the OIG app will fulfil the charging control part of the Porsche app.

 

[tophamn]

Your EVSE/OIG may be acting as the ‘Home Energy Manager’.

Maybe... - I don't really know what that means.

In my set-up the car doesn't talk to anything with regards to charging.

• the car will charge if the EVSE is providing power and the timers/profiles dictate it should charge (in my config that means if the battery SoC is below the % set in the profile)
• Octopus control the EVSE on/off as per their schedule which is calculated from the % charge-to-add set in their app; neither Octopus nor the EVSE have any idea of the SoC in the car

 

[n3ophyte]

… all cars come with a 10 year Porsche Connect Care subscription for OTA access. I don’t know if that’s sufficient for OIG purposes …

It isn’t. You need an active Porsche Connect Services subscription (£275 per annum) for Intelligent Octopus Go to interact with the car itself.

I believe Octopus being blind as to the state of charge of the car is a good thing. If Octopus think the car is always hungry, I.e. +100% charge request (93kWh) in the OIG app then it will maximise the amount of cheap energy available to the EVSE and house over a 24hr period.

 

[DSB]

Apologies to the thread starter for using this, but it is an OIG question. I've had no issues with mine, set 85% and just plug in when i'm at 40 - 50% and it seems to work well. We've just bought another EV but i know OIG only allows one linked car, does anyone charge another EV using its own timer? Does this affect the operation of the Taycan OIG charging when following a non linked EV? It should be fine but thought I'd ask.

 

[n3ophyte]

Apologies to the thread starter for using this, but it is an OIG question. I've had no issues with mine, set 85% and just plug in when i'm at 40 - 50% and it seems to work well. We've just bought another EV but i know OIG only allows one linked car, does anyone charge another EV using its own timer? Does this affect the operation of the Taycan OIG charging when following a non linked EV? It should be fine but thought I'd ask.

Which EVSE (wall box) do you have? If it’s supported by Octopus then why not have them control that rather than the car itself? Just link the car with the biggest battery to your Octopus account.

 

[DSB]

Which EVSE (wall box) do you have? If it’s supported by Octopus then why not have them control that rather than the car itself? Just link the car with the biggest battery to your Octopus account.

Thanks, the Taycan will be the biggest battery. The new car is a cheap small run around. Its a easee wall box and has timers in the app so could control from there. I just wondered if anyone runs two cars with one linked to OIG and one not.

 

[D00notD00d]

@DSB #68 above has an example.

 

[Silent Assassin]

Provided the car is compatible with IOG, you can have two cars set up as devices in the Octopus app. Just let Octopus control charging via the car rather than the charger

 

[Leccy61]

Interesting @Silent Assassin and thanks for sharing that! I’d seen the changes in the devices part of the app but didn’t realise it included being able to add another EV. I’ll see how it’s gets on with our ID.3 which is currently using the 23:30-05:30 window via its own timer.

 

[DSB]

I didn't know you could add another vehicle, but checked and my new one is not compatible. Looks like two cars will work with the timer plus IOG for the Taycan.

 

[Boer13]

Yes, the Porsche timer ultimately controls when charging stops (I actually use a single profile set to 75% and no timer). Note that OIG is controlling the Zappi charger (EVSE), NOT the car, so timers/profiles aren't set or affected by Octopus. Also note that the 100% set in the Octopus app is a request for how much charge to add, which dictates the total charging time Octopus then sets, but when the car reaches its desired max charge it refuses to take more.

@tophamn so in essence your process combines -
1 ) Octo IG controlling your charger to supply power whenever it's at 7p, and
2) a Car Profile STOPPING the charge when it hits your nominated %
Yes?

A profile like this, with 'optimised charging' selected?

I hope I understand correctly. Would not have expected the set % to prevent charging to 100%, but will be trying your setup, thanks!

***edit*** tried this last night and all smiles. I think knowledge about the use of this Profile setting, but then without any Timers, is key for any Taycan owners using a smart charger + OIG. Thanks to all members who provided clarity over the last page or two.

 

[tophamn]

@tophamn so in essence your process combines -
1 ) Octo IG controlling your charger to supply power whenever it's at 7p, and
2) a Car Profile STOPPING the charge when it hits your nominated %
Yes?

Yes, exactly .

Slight update on (1): as Octopus control the charger I get 7p/kWh (for the whole house) whenever they enable it, even outside the normal cheap hours.

 

[Speuk]

Yes, exactly .

Slight update on (1): as Octopus control the charger I get 7p/kWh (for the whole house) whenever they enable it, even outside the normal cheap hours.

Yep you need to get some cheap domestic use to compensate for the high peak rate. If you don't have battery storage or solar then there are better tariffs

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